And the Number One City to Go Back to is . . .

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By the time Emily and I had taken a 1:50 am train from Fés to Tanger, a ferry to Algeciras, and then a bus to Seville (where we met up with Jenny again), the exhaustion of traveling had caught up with me and I officially got sick. Thus I feel like I kind of missed out on Seville. Getting sick traveling is always a bummer, but it felt especially unfortunate at this point because I really like everything I did see of the city. Seville has a great atmosphere; it seems like one of Europe’s great wandering cities. Now I just need to go back to actually see the sites.

The first morning I did muster up enough energy to visit the Alcázar - a palace built in the tenth-century for the governors of the Moorish state. The current building was actually rebuilt in the14th century, and is a spectacular display of Islamic architecture. I enjoyed our walk around the palace (especially since I got in for free with my student ID . . . Yay). However, after seeing the Alhambra in Granada and the Mosques in Morocco, the art and architecture of the Alcázar didn’t evoke the same sense of awe that it might have without previous exposure to Islamic art. This is not to say the building wasn’t stunning . . . just a little less exciting. This complex did have the most beautiful garden of any I’ve seen, so Emily and I spent the majority of our time wandering amongst the flowers. The morning was beautiful, so it was a quite pleasant place to be.

The other places I remember from my daze of a visit to Seville are the Giralda Bell Tower (which I didn’t climb since my legs hated moving on flat ground) and the Plaza de España. These are just two examples of the general beauty the city displays . . . Jenny, Emily, and I (plus friends of theirs who were studying abroad in Seville) also made it to a Flamenco show. Since I knew Seville was the hotspot for seeing Flamenco, this was my number one priority for my visit and I was not going to let any amount of sickness stop me. We found a Flamenco show for free which, of course, had its ups and downs: getting in for free was fantastic, but it was an amateur performance with a dancer who looked less than excited about life. It was a nice introduction to the dance, but next time I visit I’ll definitely shell out the money for a real show. Now I just need to find cheap airfare back . . .

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Photos

By the River
Me, Jenny, and Emily

Plaza de España
Jenny and Me